Deal postpones officer layoffs

STOCKTON - The city and the Stockton Police Officers Association reached a deal late Wednesday to delay at least until summer the layoffs of 29 police officers.

David Siders and Christian Burkin

STOCKTON - The city and the Stockton Police Officers Association reached a deal late Wednesday to delay at least until summer the layoffs of 29 police officers.

The agreement, which calls for police officers to forgo some $1.1 million in anticipated back pay and to surrender uniform allowances, was a break in the bitter and long-lasting salary dispute between the union and City Hall and from ongoing negative announcements about the city's worsening financial crisis.

"This is very good news for all of us, and we thank the unions for working with the city to avoid layoffs in this fiscal year," Mayor Ann Johnston said in her State of the City address, hours after the deal was announced.

The city issued layoff notices to 29 of the city's 409 sworn officers Feb. 6, part of a bid to close a deficit expected to reach $30 million by June 2010. The layoffs were to have been effective at week's end.

In return for a total of about $1.6 million in concessions from police, City Manager Gordon Palmer agreed to not lay off any police officers before June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Officer Steve Leonesio, president of the police union, said, "The city came in with an open mind."

Still, the Police Department is anticipating reducing its $89 million general fund budget by $9 million next year, and officers are almost certain then to be laid off, city and union officials said.

Leonesio said the deal reached Wednesday will afford officers in line to be laid off time to seek other employment. Basic certification as a peace officer in California requires completion of academy, on-the-job-training and employment by a law enforcement agency. Though many law enforcement agencies in California are hiring, they are not hiring candidates in the middle of training.

The four-month reprieve will allow about 12 of the 29 officers to finish on-the-job training. It is not long enough for the rest, some of whom "only hit the street four or five months ago," Leonesio said.

City Councilman Dale Fritchen, chairman of the council's budget and finance committee, said to avoid layoffs after June 30 is "a long shot," but, "I don't give up hope."

The police union and City Hall are in a dispute about how much of a pay increase officers are owed in addition to a 9.5 percent raise authorized last year. The two sides this month temporarily set aside that broader dispute to discuss a short-term, layoff-canceling deal.

Early talks were unproductive, both sides accusing the other of being unwilling to bend. But after meeting for more than two hours on Tuesday, a deal was near. It was final-ized late Wednesday, officials said.

"I'm obviously thrilled that it got settled," Assistant Police Chief Blair Ulring said. "It's good for the citizens. It's good for the city."

Contact reporter David Siders at (209) 943-8580 or dsiders@recordnet.com.